Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags are small electronic tags or labels that can be programmed with identifying data or other information. An RFID reader can transmit an interrogation signal as a broadcast message requesting RFID tags that are in range to return the identifying data or information that the RFID tags have stored. The RIFD tags can then wirelessly communicate the data information to the RFID reader via a radio frequency (RF) communication channel.
As production costs decrease, RFID tags are cheaper to implement and have become more common, such as for product inventory control and tracking, as well as for many other usage scenarios. For example, an inventory product code, such as a stock-keeping unit (SKU) or universal product code (UPC) may be stored by an RFID tag to track inventory in a warehouse or to facilitate customer check-out in a store. RFID tags can therefore be used instead of bar codes, which are visual identifiers that necessitate line-of-sight to be acquired by a bar code reader. RFID tags, in contrast, do not require a line-of-sight view for RFID readers to acquire information that is stored on the RFID tags.